Scheduled Tasks with Siri AI?

[jcarucci]

I’ve been trying to use Siri AI as much as possible to see if it can do what I was previously using Perplexity and Claude to do. One feature in Perplexity I use is their scheduled tasks. If I read about a movie that doesn’t have a release date yet, I’ll just schedule a weekly prompt like “When is the movie The King of Covent Garden going to be released”. Then I get an email with the information Perplexity finds.

I do a similar thing for favorite bands, schedule a weekly prompt like “when I Rush going on tour?”

So is this possible with Siri AI? My first thought is maybe a shortcut, but I don’t know if those can be scheduled to recur every week.

[ryanjamurphy]

Interesting challenge. You can schedule tasks in Shortcuts like you’re suggesting, but whether the AI is good at the tasks is a different question…

[Bmosbacker]

It does not seem possible with Siri. I used the same prompt with both Siri and ChatGPT. Here are the responses from both.

Prompt: “I want you to check the web every week for when Home Alone movie will be streaming on any service. Alert me the day it will begin streaming. Can you do that?”

Siri’s Response:

I can’t automatically check the web every week or set up future alerts for streaming dates. However, Home Alone is currently available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.

ChatGPT’s Response:

As of October 31, 2026, the original Home Alone is already streaming on Disney+ in the United States. It is included with a Disney+ subscription.

FlickFinder+1

I can monitor for its arrival on other streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, or Prime Video, and alert you when a new streaming date is announced.

One important distinction: a weekly check cannot guarantee discovery on the exact day streaming begins unless the date has been announced in advance.

Your monitoring task is active.

• Frequency: Every Saturday, beginning November 7, 2026.
• Coverage: U.S. streaming services.
• Notification: When a new streaming service or confirmed start date is discovered.
• No unnecessary alerts: You will not receive repetitive updates when nothing has changed.

For a more reliable alert on the actual first day of streaming, I recommend daily rather than weekly checks.

But I don’t expect Siri AI to be a Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT. It has not been designed, at least as of now, for that type of work. As I understand and have experienced it, Siri AI is focused more on embedded, integrated tasks with our data, not robust AI workflows. That is fine with me; I have the advantages of both approaches. Siri AI is better for some things, front-tier AI models for other things.

Here is an example where Siri AI excels. I picked up my phone and told Siri, “Remind me when I’m near the hardware store to pick up furnace filters.” Siri brought up the closest four and asked me which one. I chose one, and then Siri added the reminder with a location. When I leave today, I will be reminded to purchase the filters when I’m near that store.

These are NOT good uses of AI.

[Edith Pritchett/The Washington Post]

[geoffaire]

You can use the feature to build a custom browser extension for Safari (using only text to describe what it should do) to watch a particular page and notify you when it provides certain information, or when it changes.

[Rishi]

On similar lines there’s a “Notify me” option in Safari which monitors a page for a change at regular intervals. The extension may be a bit overkill, especially if one does this on a couple of sites.